Disaster recovery is an organization’s method of regaining access and functionality to its IT infrastructure after events like a natural disaster, cyber attack, or even business disruptions related to the COVID-19 pandemic. A variety of disaster recovery (DR) methods can be part of a disaster recovery plan. DR is one aspect of business continuity.

Disaster recovery relies on the replication of data and computer processing in an off-premises location not affected by the disaster. When servers go down because of a natural disaster, equipment failure, or cyberattack, a business needs to recover lost data from a second location where the data is backed up. Ideally, an organization can also transfer its computer processing to that remote location in order to continue operations.